Control device



A a-i127, 1965 Filed June 28. 1965 T. MADLAND CONTROL DEVICE FIG. I

3 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VEN TOR.

THORVALD MADLAND G eg e; 7%

ATTORNEYS April 27, 1965 T. MADLAND 3,179,936

CONTROL DEVICE Filed June 28, 1963 s Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 2

INVENTOR. THORVALD MADLAND BY ay 6.3%

ATTORNEYS T. MADLAND A ril 27, 1965 CONTROL DEVICE 3 Sheets-Sheet 3Filed June 28. 1963 INVENTOR. THORVALD MADLAN) ATTORNEYS 3,179,986CONTROL DEVIQE Thorvald Madland, Arlington Heights, IiL, assignor toYoungstown Steel Door Company, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of OhioFiled June 28, 1963, Ser. No. 291,553 10 Claims. (Cl. 20-24) Thisinvention relates to a device whereby the op erating sequence of two ormore rotatable members may be controlled.

In its broadest aspect, the invention is directed to a mechanism wherebytwo separately operable rotatable members are interconnected so that therotation of one of the members is dependent upon a prior rotation of theother of the members.

More specifically, the invention relates to a linkage systeminterconnecting two or more rotatable cranks. The linkage system is suchthat one of the cranks may be rotated only a predetermined amountindependently of the rotation of the other of the cranks.

In its most specific aspect, the invention relates to a mechanismcontrolling the opening operation of railroad car doors.

In the field of railroad cars, a well known type of door is theso-called flush or plug door in which the door fits in a rabbeted frameso as to present a surface flush with the external surface of therailroad car. Such doors are designed to be moved outwardly from theside of the railroad car and then moved along a track parallel to theside of the car so as to expose the door opening.

In order to accomplish the lateral movement of the door toward and awayfrom the door opening and to support the door for longitudinal movementalong the track, the door is normally provided with a pair of parallelpipes having cranks at each end. To operate the door, the pipes arerotated thereby causing the cranks to .displace the door laterallyrelative to the side of the car. With the door in the closed position,the cranks either may be disposed substantially parallel to the surfaceof the door or the system may be designed in such a manner that thecranks are normal to the plane of the door.

With either design, it usually is necessary to operate the two pipes andthereby the cranks somewhat simultaneously. Failure to operate the pipestogether either will cause the mechanism to bind or the door to bewedged in the door opening. This is particularly true with the cranksnormal to the plane of the door. In such case should one of the pipes berotated to the exclusion of the other, the door would tend to pivotabout the other of the cranks as a fulcrum, causing the mechanismeffectively to be wedged in the door opening.

An additional problem is presented by the common expedient of aretaining plate places along one vertical edge of the door opening withthe door adapted to be received behind the plate. With such anarrangement, it is necessary first to displace the side of the dooropposite to the retaining plate and then slide the door to a positionclear of the-plate before the door can be fully opened. To accomplishthis operation it is necessary that the rotatable pipes and cranks whichmount the door be operated in proper sequence.

It is an object of this invention to provide a mechanism whereby twoseparately operable rotatable members are United States Patent 3,179,986Patented Apr. 2'7, 1965 interconnected so that the rotation of one ofthe members is dependent upon a prior rotation of the other of themembers.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a control mechanismwhereby the operation of one crank in a system having a plurality ofcranks is dependent upon the operation of the other of the cranks.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide a controlmechanism which includes a sequential control over a plurality ofrotatable members.

It is another object of this invention to provide a mechanism whichcontrols the sequential rotation of a plurality of rotatable memberssecured to a door on a railroad car.

It is a more specific object of this invention to provide a device tocontrol the opening movements of a plug type door on a railroad car.

It is a still more specific object of this invention to provide a devicesecured to a plug door on a railroad car with said deviceinterconnecting the usual crank operating mechanism, thereby to controlthe opening operation of the door.

The control mechanism of the instant invention comprises a pair ofrotatable rods mounted on the usual plug door on a railroad car withoperating means secured to each of the rods for rotating the same.Extending transversely to the rods but interconnected therewith areinterconnecting means which serve to restrain the independent movementof each of the rods relative to the other of the rods. Appropriate stopmeans are secured to the rotatable rods and designed to cooperate withthe interconnecting means so that upon rotation of one of the rods thereis a proportional movement of the interconnecting means which causes thelatter to engage stop means secured to the other of the rods, andthereby restrain the rotating movement of the one rod.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, said inventionthen consists of the means hereinafter fully described and particularlypointed out in the claims, the following description setting forth indetail one approved means of carrying out the invention, such disclosedmeans, however, constituting but one of the various ways in which theprinciples of the invention may be used.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation view showing the plug door in the closedposition in the railroad car.

FIG. 2 is a side elevation, partly in section, showing the operatingmechanism for the plug door taken on line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a View taken along line 33 of FIG. 1, showing the inventionmounted on the door with the door in the closed position.

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 with the door in a partially openposition.

FIG. 5 is a View similar to FIG. 3 showing the door in the fully openedposition.

Referring now to the drawings which illustrate one preferred embodimentof the invention, the numeral 10 designates one sidewall of aconventional railroad car.

A door opening ill is formed in the sidewall and is adapted to be closedby a laterally moveable door 12. In closed position, the door 12 isseated in the door opening and is flush with the external surface of thesidewall 10.

To move the door laterally out of the door opening 11 for longitudinalmovement along the sidewall upon a track 13, there are provided spacedapart parallel vertical pipes 14, 15. The pipes 14, are rotatablysecured upon the door 12 by means of brackets 16, 17, 13, 19.

Secured to the upper end of the pipes 14, 15 are cranks 29, 21respectively. The cranks 20, 21 extend upwardly behind a retainer 22 andare provided with rollers 23 which guide the door in its longitudinalmovement and retain the top of the door in the proper position relativeto the car.

Secured to the lower end of each of the pipes 14, 15 are cranks 24, 25respectively. The cranks 24, 25 are journalled in roller hangers 26, 27mounted upon the track 13 thereby to facilitate sliding movement of thedoor.

Clevises 28, 29 are secured upon the pipes 14, 15 respectively andadjacent to the brackets 18. Secured by pins 30, 31 to the clevises 28,29 are operating levers 32, 33. The operating levers 32, 33 are mountedfor vertical swinging movement and, as shown in FIG. 1, are pivoteddownwardly to a position Where they are retained by a locking mechanismgenerally indicated by the reference numeral 34. 1

It is believed apparent that upon release of the levers 32, 33 from thelocking mechanism 34 each lever may be pivoted to a position away fromthe locking mechanism. Thereupon, each lever 32, 33 may be rotatedoutwardly away from the door and through the pins 39, 31 and clevises28, 29 cause rotation of the pipes 14, 15. As the pipes 14, 15 arerotated, the upper cranks 20, 21 and lower cranks 24, 25 are caused tobe rotated. As it is apparent from an inspection of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2,all of the cranks 20, 21, 24, 25 are normal to the plane of the doorwhen the door is in a closed position. Upon rotation of the pipes 14, 15the cranks are pivoted to a position approximating a parallelrelationship with the plane of the door thus causing the door to bedisplaced laterally outward from the plane of the cars siding. Afterthis has been accomplished, the door is then free to be displacedlongitudinally along the track 13 thereby exposing the door opening.

Turning to FIG. 3, there is illustrated the problem which arises withdoors of this type. In FIG. 3, there is a schematic diagram of the plugdoor 12 received in the railroad car 10. A retaining plate 35 isprovided at one end of the rabbeted frame. Assuming the door to be inthe closed position as illustrated in FIG. 3 with the cranks normal tothe plane of the door, should the operator then rotate pipe 14 without acorresponding rotation of pipe 15, the left end of the door in FIG. 3would tend to assume the position shown in FIG. 4. The opposite end ofthe door, however, being restrained in the rabbeted frame, would tend toassume the position 36 shown in dotted lines in FIG. 3. Such a positionis obviously impossible so the result is that the mechanism either bindsor the door bends about a plane along the line y-y shown in FIG. 3. Itis the purpose of this invention to provide a mechanism which preventsoperation of one crank independently of the other thereby to avoidbinding or bending of the door.

Due to the presence of the retaining plate 35, it is also believedapparent that pipe 15 may not be rotated independently of pipe 14 untilthe door has been removed from behind the plate. Accordingly, it isanother purpose of this invention to provide a mechanism which assuresthe proper sequential operation of the cranks operating mechanismthereby to obtain a single and effortless method of opening a plug door.

The embodiment of the invention shown in FIGS. 15 comprises a lever 37secured for rotation to the pipe 15. A similar lever 38 is secured tothe pipe 14. A tie bar 39 is secured by a pin 40 to the lever 37. Theopposite end of the tie bar 39 is provided with a slot 41 which receivesa pin 42. The pin 42 is carried on a link 43 which in turn is pivotallymounted at 44 to a bracket 45 secured to the door. An intermediate link46 interconnects the lever33 and the link 43. Formed on the link 43 is aflange 47 which functions as an abutment or stop member for the tie bar39.

For the purposes of this disclosure, the links 43, 46 comprise a togglewith the flange 47 being a stop member secured to one of the links ofthe toggle. The position of the links 43, 46, as illustrated in FIG. 3,describes the toggle in an uncollapsed position whereas the condition ofthe links 43, 46 in FIG. 4 illustrate the toggle when it is collapsed.

Turning to the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the door isinitially in a closed position with the upper cranks 20, 21 and thelower cranks 24, 25 being normal to the plane of the door. To open thedoor, the operator would release the operating levers 32, 33 from thelocking mechanism 34. With the levers released, the lever 33 may berotated through an angle a. The angle a generally is in the order of 11and is dependent upon the amount of rotation possible before the doorinterferes with the retaining plate 35. Rotation of the pipe 15 beyondthe angle a is prevented by the tie bar 39 abutting the stop member 47on the link 43. The tie bar 39 might be made longer to prevent anyinitial rotation of the pipe 15 if so desired.

Operating lever 32 may be rotated through the full angle needed tolaterally displace one end of the door, the angle being designated bythe letter b. During this operation, the lever 38 is rotated through acorresponding angle and, through linkage 46 and 43, the pin 42 abuts theend of the slot 41 causing the tie bar 39 to be displaced with the link43. Since the link 43 is pivoted about the point 44, the stop member 47is rotated to a position where the tie bar is free from restraint.Inasmuch as the tie bar is pinned to the lever 37 which in turn issecured to the pipe 15, the movement of the tie bar 39 wil cause acorresponding rotation of the pipe 15 through an angle 0.

The amount of rotation imparted to the pipe 15 is determined by the link43 and pin 42 which serve as a proportioning lever. Thus, for a givenamount of rotation of the pipe 14, a proportional angular displacementwill be imparted to the link 43. Since the link 43 is pivoted about thepoint 44, it is believed apparent that the position of the pin 42 alongthe length of the link 43 relative to the pivot 44 will determine thecorresponding amount of rotation imparted to the pipe 15. Thus, thegreater the distance between the pin 42 and the pivot point 44, thegreater will be the amount of rotation imparted to the pipe 15. In orderfor the door to move as a straight line, it is necessary that the properposition of the pin 42 on the link 43 be ascertained so that the correctratio of rotation is imparted to pipe 15. With an incorrect ratio, thedoor would tend to bind or bend in the same manner as if the levers 32,33 were being independently actuated.

With the door in the position shown in FIG. 5, the door is then free tobe moved to the left so as to clear the retaining plate 35 and theoperating lever 33 may then be rotated to the full open position tocomplete the lateral movement of the door. The lever 33 is now capableof moving the pipe 15 independently of the mechanism associated with thepipe 14 by virtue of the elongated slot 41. With the door laterallydisplaced to the position shown in FIG. 5, the door then may belongitudinally displaced along the track 13 thereby exposing the dooropening.

The embodiment illustrated is directly applicable to all types of plugdoors where the operating cranks on the doors, in the closed position,are normal or nearly normal to the door and where one edge of the dooris retained behind a plate. It should be noted, however, that thisinvention is not limited to railroad car doors, but

may be used wherever a sequence of operation is necessary andproportional movement between rotation elements is required. Further,although the invention has been illustrated as being secured to thelower ends of the pipes 14, the precise location of the mechanism is notcritical and it might be at any position along the length of theparallel pipes.

It will be apparent that numerous changes and modifications in theinvention may be made by those having ordinary skill in the art andtherefore the embodiments illustrated are not meant to be restrictivewith all modifications and changes apparent to those having skill in theart comprehended within this invention which is to be limited only bythe scope of the claims.

I claim:

1. A control for operating elements comprising;

a pair of rotatable rods mounted on a common support;

operating means secured to said rods for rotating the same;

said operating means including lever means secured to one of said rodsfor rotation therewith;

linkage means connected to the other of said rods and the commonsupport;

a bar secured at one of its ends to said lever means and at the other ofits ends to said linkage means, whereby rotation of one of the rodscauses a proportional rotation of the other of the rods.

2. An operating mechanism for a railrod car plug door comprising;

a pair of rotatable rods mounted on the door;

operating means secured to each of said rods for rotating the same;

lever means secured to one of said rods;

linkage means connected to the other of said rods and the door;

a bar secured at one of its ends to said lever means and at the other ofits ends to said linkage means whereby rotation of one of the rodscauses a proportional rotation of the other of the rods.

3. A control mechanism comprising;

a pair of rotatable elements;

a support mounting the rotatable elements;

an operator secured to each of said elements for rotating the same;

one of said elements having a lever secured thereto for rotationtherewith;

a toggle having one link connected to the other of the elements with theother link pivotally secured to the support;

a pin projecting from said other link of said toggle;

a tie bar secured at one end to said lever and receiving said projectingpin in a slot in the other end;

a stop member on said toggle operatively associated with said other endof said tie bar whereby rotation of said one element causes said tie barto abut said stop member and restrain the rotation of said one element.

4. In combination;

a railroad car plug door;

first and second rotatable rods mounted on said door;

operating means secured to each of said rods for manually rotating thesame;

a lever secured to the first of said rods for rotation therewith;

a toggle mechanism;

one link of said toggle being secured to the second rod with the otherlink of said toggle being secured to said door;

a pin projecting from one of said links;

a tie bar secured at one end of said lever and receiving said pin in aslot at the other end;

a stop member on said toggle;

said stop member being operatively associated with said other end ofsaid tie bar when said toggle is uncollapsed thereby restrainingrotation of said first rod independent of said second rod, said stop member being disassociated from said other end of said tie bar when saidtoggle is collapsed by rotation of said second rod thereby allowingindependent rotation of said first rod.

5. A control mechanism comprising;

a pair of rotatable members mounted on a common support;

operating means secured to each of said members for rotating the same;

lever means secured to one of said members for rotation therewith;

a linkage connected to the other of said members and the support;

said linkage comprising a toggle with one link pivotally secured to thesupport and the other of the links secured to the other of said members;

a bar secured at one of its ends to said lever means, and at the otherof its ends to said link secured to the support whereby rotation of oneof the members causes a proportional rotation of the other of themembers.

6. A control mechanism comprising;

a pair of rotatable members mounted on a common support;

manual operating means secured to each of said members for rotating eachmember individually;

proportioning means secured to one of said members;

a bar secured at one of its ends to the other of said members;

the other end of said bar being associated with said proportioning meansthereby upon rotation of said one of said members through actuation ofits operating means a proportional rotation is imparted to said other ofsaid members and its operating means.

7. A control mechanism comprising;

a pair of rotatable elements;

a support mounting the rotatable elements;

a bar;

means securing said bar to one of said elements;

a stop member;

means connecting said stop member to the other of said elements;

said stop member being movable with said other element to a plurality ofpositions;

said stop member in one of said positions being operatively associatedwith said bar and thereby restraining movement of said bar and saidelement associated therewith;

said stop member in another of said positions being removed from saidbar and thereby allowing free movement of said bar.

8. In combination;

a railroad car having a door opening;

a door adapted to close the door opening;

a retaining plate along one vertical edge of the door opening andadapted to receive an edge of the door therebehind;

a pair of rotatable rods mounted on said door;

each of said rods having operating means for rotating the same;

lever means secured to one of said rods;

linkage means connected to the other of said rods and said door;

a bar secured at one of its ends to said lever means and at the other ofits ends to said linkage means whereby rotation of one of the rodscauses a proportional rotation of the other of the rods.

9. The combination of claim 8 wherein said linkage means comprises atoggle;

a stop member on said toggle;

said stop member being operatively associated with said bar when saidtoggle is uncollapsed thereby restraining movement of said bar.

10. In combination,

a railroad car door adapted to close an opening in the side wall of arailroad car,

a pair of spaced apart rotatable means mounting said door on the car fortransverse movement into and out of the door opening,

actuating means operatively connected to said rotatable means foreifecting rotation thereof,

said actuating means including means whereby rotation imparted to afirst one of said rotatable means causes a corresponding but differentdegree of rotation to be imparted to the other of said rotatable means.

1,178,017 4/16 Kainer 74507 2,083,708 6/37 Haseltine 20-23 2,196,2944/40 Dwyer 20 23 2,842,809 7/58 Shaver 20 23 X FOREIGN PATENTS 22,77011/99 Great Britain.

References Cited by the Applicant UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,220,436 3/17Mapes. 2,140,570 12/38 Young.

HARRISON R. MOSELEY, Primary Examiner.

10. IN COMBINATION, A RAILROAD CAR DOOR ADAPTED TO CLOSE AN OPENING INTHE SIDE WALL OF A RAILROAD CAR, A PAIR OF SPACED APART ROTATABLE MEANSMOUNTING SAID DOOR ON THE CAR FOR TRANSVERSE MOVEMENT INTO AND OUT OFTHE DOOR OPENING, ACTUATING MEANS OPERATIVELY CONNECTED TO SAIDROTATABLE MEANS FOR EFFECTING ROTATION THEREOF, SAID ACTUATING MEANSINCLUDING MEANS WHEREBY ROTATION IMPARTED TO A FIRST ONE OF SAIDROTATABLE MEANS CAUSES A CORRESPONDING BUT DIFFERENT DEGREE OF ROTATIONTO BE IMPARTED TO THE OTHER OF SAID ROTATABLE MEANS.